Tonight, I Will Fall For You

“Calm down Jack! They’re normal people, just like you!” Alex said, pressing a soft kiss on Jack’s temple. “I know but what if they don’t like me?”
Alex sighed. He had been trying to calm Jack down for almost one hour now, but it was hopeless. The younger boy was panicking. It had started right after Alex told him about the planned meeting and continued throughout the whole day, and now that they were walking home to Alex it only got worse. After ten more minutes of Jack babbling on about all the stuff that could go wrong Alex decided that he had to do something about this.
“What if I completely embarrass myself or if I mph…” He was roughly interrupted by something soft and warm pressing against his mouth. Alex had stopped walking and instead spun around to shut Jack up in the only way he could imagine to work: he kissed him. Slow and gently, calming and comforting. After a few seconds he pulled away, smiled and whispered: “Don’t worry. It’ll be alright. Just be yourself.” Then he took Jack’s hand and started walking again. From the corner of his eye he could see Jack smiling.
The meeting had been nice, just like Alex had predicted. As soon as they’d arrived at the Gaskarth’s residence, all the tension had fallen from Jack. Just like stage fright disappears as soon as you enter the stage. When Alex’s mom had greeted him with an embrace and his father had welcomed him as if he already belonged to the family Alex could tell that Jack was happy and felt at home.
Mrs. Gaskarth had seemingly decided that the tall, lanky, puppy-eyed Jack needed her motherly care and soon disappeared into the kitchen, muttering something along the lines of “Poor boy, he’s way too thin” and made her family some late lunch/ early supper.
Mr. Gaskarth kept talking to the boys, being especially curious about Jack’s Lebanese origin, even though the boy had been born and raised in the USA. It was obvious that both of Alex’s parents liked Jack and after Alex’s dad had left for work his mother even insisted on making them fresh Brownies. Well, it wasn’t as if she needed much persuasiveness for that, since both Alex and Jack loved Brownies.
They spent a nice evening together and when Jack finally had to go home he almost felt a little sad for having to leave the nice and comfy atmosphere.
He hugged Mrs. Gaskarth and kissed Alex goodbye before stepping out into the cold, fresh autumn-night.

The next weeks passed mostly uneventful. Linda was happy with Jake, Jack and Alex were much the same, Rian got himself a girlfriend, Cassadee, and Zack just continued entertaining everyone. The seven teenagers often went out together, the girls soon becoming great friends and even Jake joined the clique, after a while.
The jocks that had beaten up Jack before, left them alone most of the time, especially because Linda had earned a certain reputation after the little "incident" on her first day which spread like wildfire, even though she always insisted that she wasn’t actually that impressive and that only the surprise-effect and good luck had helped her.
Everyone was happy with their lives and they had a wonderful time, enjoying it to the fullest. It was almost too perfect. There was no fighting, no drama and even Jack had already forgotten about Linda’s weird behavior which he had wondered about previously. But of course, like always in life, the good times ended way too soon and dark clouds started spreading over the group.
It started with Alex and Jack: Jack hadn't introduced Alex to his parents yet, for simple reasons: they were completely oblivious to the fact that their son was gay and he wasn't sure how they would take the news. And Alex understood him. He was just as supportive as all the others, even though it meant a lot more to Jack, of course. So now they had winter-break, Christmas was just around the corner and everyone was in a peaceful mood.
It was December 20th, everything seemed fine, peaceful and just perfect. But it wasn't meant to last.
On December 20th, Jack's world was about to change.
On December 20th, Jack decided to tell his parents about Alex and about the fact that he was gay.
It was right after dinner; Jack and his parents sat together in the living room, next to the big Christmas tree Jack's father had bought the other day and talked about their lives, school, friends, colleagues and things like that. When his parents were done with all the 'important' stuff (the marriage of a third or so degree cousin and the list for grocery shopping), Jack spoke up. He was nervous. Very nervous. But it was now or never. He had to do this, so he could fully be himself again. And, most importantly: he had to do this for Alex. Because hiding him away would hurt the other boy, even if he didn’t want to admit it.
"Mom, dad? I err... I have something to tell you..." He hesitated. His mother looked a bit worried, his dad waiting calmly for whatever his son wanted to tell." I.. um.. I'm gay. And - I have a boyfriend." There. Now he had said it. Admitted his biggest secret to his family.
When he saw his parent's faces again, he was startled. His mother looked shocked, but that had probably been to be expected, but his father... he looked downright furious. He had never seen his father so angry before. When said spoke up, Jack was almost surprised by how calm his voice was. But his words hurt. Jack would never have thought that words could hurt so much. Deep inside him, something shattered.
"You can go now. Just pack your bags and leave. I don't want to see you here, ever again. You are a disgrace to the whole family. I accepted all your flaws, even your inappropriate clothing and your dreadful taste of music, but this is too much. Your mother will help you pack and then you will leave. And don't you dare ever come back."
These words made Jack go numb. He couldn't even cry right now. He could hear his mother softly talking next to him but he wasn't able to take her words in. But he could imagine what she was saying, thought. She would apologize for his father’s words and try to rebuild the facade, just like she always did, but in the end, it wouldn't change anything.
After stuffing most of his belongings (it wasn't as if he owned a lot) into two rucksacks and grabbing his schoolbag for after the holidays, he left, without another word.
He headed straight to Alex.
Well, where else could he go anyways? Linda and Jake were out of town until Christmas; Zack, Rian and Cassadee were at a party, and it wasn't like Jack had any other friends.
Plus, Alex was the only one Jack wanted around right now. He just wanted to cuddle up in his boyfriend's arms (Yes, they were officially dating now. About two weeks after meeting Alex’s parents they agreed on making it public as they thought enough time had passed and they were ready for it) and cry until there weren't any more tears left. And that was exactly what he did when he arrived at Alex's house and the elder opened the door. He cried for hours. He cried so hard he wasn't even able to say anything. And Alex held him. He held the sobbing mess that was his boyfriend in his arms, gently rocking him back and forth, soothingly rubbing small circles on his back, humming the melody of Lullabies (Jack had always loved the song, so Alex hoped that maybe it could help).
It was almost 3 AM when Jack finally managed to tell Alex what had happened. The older boy was shocked, to put it mildly. It was almost as if they swapped roles: now it was Jack's turn to calm Alex down a little.
At the end of the night, both fell asleep in each other's arms, exhausted by the endless hours lying behind them, full of tears and desperation.
Because honestly, none of them really knew what to do. They were way too young to be confronted with something like this and now that it happened nevertheless they were helpless.